Dawn of the Geeks

We purchased a Mac Mini a year or two ago. The Intel version with dual core. We bought the $800 version since we knew any major upgrades would be impossible so we got the best to start with. Well we noticed a significant slow down and poor performance. Rebooting would help somewhat but it would start crawling again. It had 512MB of RAM in it. We decided to put 1GB in it since I’ve had experience with systems with too little memory. We waited until now to do anything about it since the system wasn’t used that much and we just put up with it. We also didn’t really have the money to be spending on computer upgrades.

So we talk to an Apple rep on Apple.com and he gives us the specific memory we need. A 200 Pin 5300 speed DDR2 SO DIMM. He tells us we can buy a chip and then have it installed at an Apple store. So we look on NewEgg.com and see that a 1GB chip is around $25. So we call the Apple store to get an idea of how much it will cost to install it. The Mac Mini is not made for user upgrades. They tell us it will cost $150 and the installation is free. They refuse to install any memory but what they sell.

Excuse me? $150 dollars for a $25 dollar part and you’re telling me the installation is free? I don’t think so. So we went to Fry’s Electronics, got the part for around $25 and installed the chip ourselves. The Mac Mini now runs great. Like Vista, apparently Apple failed to include enough memory in it’s systems to run its latest OS. You need 1GB or your Mini is going to perform terribly. You can find how-to’s online to opening up the system. It basically just snaps together. A putty knife works well to pull the case apart. You just have to be careful.

But, since Apple tried to screw us over and intentionally made the Mini difficult to open, I’ll never be buying an Apple product again. Memory is the easiest part to upgrade on any PC. There’s no excuse for Apple making it difficult and then charging a 600% markup on a memory chip and then pretending that the installation is free. And then telling me that they couldn’t install a third party chip when the Apple.com rep said they could is just over the top.

What a bunch of idiots. I hope you like the money we gave you for the Mini, Apple because it’s the last penny you’ll see from us. We liked your product but we don’t like being ripped off. So we’ll take our business elsewhere in the future.